Kristina Nelson, (FieldsofThyme, #800) has received a certificate of achievement in Garden Gate for earning a beginner level 3R's Rule (Reuse,Recycle,Revive!)

"I made garden markers with tin can lids.

Last year we saved scrap metal for stakes and I ran them through the top of tin can lids. I punched the lids as markers for the garden. I have practiced cleaning my garden tools, and caring for them properly. We now sharpen our own lawn mower blades and other tools."

Tiffany Medina, (Tiffany Medina, #3148) has received a certificate of achievement in Farm Kitchen for earning an intermediate and beginner level Get It Together badge.

"I love an organized kitchen, but I had a lot of extra storage containers that I did not use. I recycled the ones without the lids and the one that were only taking up cabinet space. The ones I kept I labeled so I can easily locate all of my basic ingredients quickly. In addition, I found quite a few kitchen gadgets and utensils that I will never use. Those I gave to my sister who is furnishing a new home. I also passed on a few old jars and glass containers to the neighbor girl who loves to gather caterpillars from my butterfly garden, but never seems to have containers that can be sterilized for the next generation of butterflies. I also re-purposed a few old tension curtain rods to organize my cookie sheets and cake pans.

I am very pleased with my reorganized kitchen. It is now the perfect place for cooking good and healthy food for the family."

Emily Hack, (alterationsbyemily, #2951) has received a certificate of achievement in Garden Gate for earning an intermediate level Backyard Farmer badge.

"A friend of mine invited me over to learn how to milk her goats. I arrived very early in the morning and we started the work. It was very interesting to see how to get the milk out of another animal.

It was by far a learning experience. My wrists hurt quite a bit afterward, but I was rewarded with some, ďSpecial Miss Tara MilkĒ, for my daughter to drink. It had a different taste than the regular milk I purchase from a store."

Emily Hack, (alterationsbyemily, #2951) has received a certificate of achievement in Make It Easy for earning a beginner level Grease Chicks badge.

"My dad taught me about 8 years ago how to find everything under the hood of the car (when I left for a summer job in Ohio). I have since been able to teach my husband how to check his own car, including checking the tire pressure, and making sure the lug nuts are on securely. As for our mileage, I started tracking that this year so we can use it for our tax deductions.

So far so good. It has been a challenge for me to remember to check the mileage on my car when going to the doctor or doing something getting ready for the home business. I am actually surprised to see how many miles I can do in a trip to the fabric store."

Meagan Johnson, (dazed81, #1255) has received a certificate of achievement in Make It Easy for earning a beginner level Carp-hen-try badge.

"When I first started this badge, I was upset, because every time I wanted or needed something done around the house, I had to wait, and wait, and wait, until it moved up on my husband's priority list. If I decided to take it into my own hands, I could never find the tools I needed, or the battery in the drill was always dead, and the drill was heavy and awkward for me, (and I am not weak!)

So I did some research and bought myself a lightweight Lithium drill, and bits, and all the accessories I wanted, and then, I HID them from my husband. :)Next, I hung all the new roman shades in the living room and bedrooms by myself. I painted my sewing room turquoise and I purchased and assembled my own rocking chair, with ottoman. I made my own "Hook" area by spray painting metal hooks that spell out our last name, and mounting them to a board I had painted white. Then I hung it on our front porch and it is where we hang coats, aprons, :) bags, purses and totes.I had already read "dare to repair." :)

I have had lots of friends ask me where I bought the rack I made for coats. I also have had a few friends duplicate it in their own homes! It was great to inspire other moms to take charge and get creative!"

Meagan Johnson, (dazed81, #1255) has received a certificate of achievement in Make It Easy for earning an intermediate level Carp-hen-try badge.

"I am going to combine a few projects in this badge, which I hope is okay. To start with, I purchased an old (looking and AGED) schoolhouse table at auction when a local school closed. I saw lots of potential, beauty, and also a neat place for my kids to sit and write, play, etc. I paid $10 for it. It looked SO rough. I stored in the basement for a while. Once the kids got big enough last fall, I decided to try to bring it up. When I got it into our playroom, I really noticed how bad it was. It was also a bit too tall for toddler size kids.... more for school age kids. So I put our IKEA chair next to it and measured, marked, and taught myself to use a saw, and sawed off the legs. Then I used a sander (for the first time I can really remember!) and sanded down the entire table. Then I used a tack cloth and removed all the dust, bought stain to match the look I wanted, and put several coats of stain followed by separate coats of clear polyurethane. The table turned out AMAZING and I get compliments on it ALL THE TIME! People think I paid a ton for it!

Last Fall I also "masterminded" the entire remodeling of a small pantry type room off the kitchen, the back entryway/porch, and also picked out new windows and doors for the front porch and outside of the house. This was a HUGE experience for me. I spent MONTHS learning about and researching cabinets, countertops, windows, etc. We had a "contractor" do the actual wall knocking out, but I picked everything out and also made the entire custom layout of the cabinets and counters to fit the area. I created a gorgeous pantry area with workspace that I love to use for baking :) I also studied bungalow and kit homes (which ours is) and tried to replicate and retain as much of the original look of the front of the house as possible. We replaced the original windows with new double hung energy saving windows with prairie style grids. I ordered all the windows and doors (front and back doors) myself at the home improvement store. Then I made drawings to show the contractor how I wanted him to "build" the framing around and above the windows. Then I painted a new color (green!) on the door and a complimenting green on the exterior of the house. All the paint colors were original sherwin williams colors for kit home in the 1920-40 era, and had to be color matched :)

The confidence and learning experiences that came from these projects are unmeasurable. At the end of the remodeling, I was so confident that I actually DRILLED the holes, (really!) and installed all the new drawer, and door hardware on my new cabinets. You MUST be confident to drill your new cabinets! LOL. I also measured each one by hand, instead of using a "template" to install the handles. The contractor told me that handles I chose and purchased couldn't be used because there was no "template" on the market for him to use to drill the holes. I was so angry I started doing research and taught myself how to measure, mark, and install them. :)

I am attaching a photo of my finished schoolhouse table, and also a link to my album of photos from the fall remodeling, including my handiwork painting everything, picking everything, and installing cabinet hardware. I also installed a pull-out two-bin garbage can deal on rollers, inside a cabinet."

Meagan Johnson, (dazed81, #1255) has received a certificate of achievement in Make It Easy for earning an expert level Carp-hen-try badge.

"This was a VERY egg-citing Merit Badge! Back when I decided to get Chickens and raise them, for ANOTHER merit badge, I realized that in town, I needed a "neat" looking chicken coop that I could keep inside the front yard. My Father In Law gave me an older doghouse that had been discarded, and I took it to my parent's house in the country and began, with the help of my kids, and guidance and skill of my dad, to convert it to a little chicken coop. I wanted it to look like a little barn. I did lots of research online and read several chicken, and chicken coop books, and drew up my own plans to scale. Then I tore off all the old siding and shingles and we set to work on the coop conversion. This was a TON of work. More than I (or my dad) ever imagined. But his idea of a chicken coop was FAR from what I wanted :)

We started this project in MARCH of 2011 and it finally was finished and in place in JUNE! The chickens spent their first night inside it last night. I am attaching a link to my album of photos from the conversion, which I painstakingly documented, in photos, and also in a journal. :) I was at first keeping track of every hour that we spent on it, hoping that it would equal 40. Let's just say that after the first month of work, I had far exceeded the 40 hour requirement and quit keeping track of hours completely! haha! Please see it from start to finish here. :)

Meagan Johnson, (dazed81, #1255) has received a certificate of achievement in Garden Gate for earning an intermediate level Backyard Farmer badge.

"It came about quite strangely, a cousin, and former classmate, approached me about needing someone to take over their farm chores while they went on vacation. Because my degree was in agriculture and my experience with livestock was vast, they knew that I would be responsible and up to the task. What I couldn't have foreseen, was that they needed someone to MILK THEIR GOATS! Oh my. Was this a sign from above, that I was destined to earn this badge? I spent several days "job shadowing" and two days learning how to milk. I took my kids (3 and 2) with on the second day, and they are and were SO excited and each wanted to try hand milking the goats themselves. We will be caring for the goats, dogs, and cats this weekend, for four straight days. We will milk the mother goats, feed and water all of the goats, including bottle feeding three baby goats, and tending to two pregnant mother goats who MAY kid while the relatives are on vacation! So exciting!

The kids have already learned so much about goats and love to bottle feed the babies. They were both also so excited to "try" hand milking.

I discovered that there is SO much more strength involved in hand milking than I ever imagined. I also found and felt an immediate link between myself and the lactating goats. I am a huge advocate for breastfeeding and nursed both my children, nursing the oldest while pregnant with the second. I was able to apply my knowledge of agriculture, and combine it with my knowledge of mothering, milk production, and "supply and demand." This has been so rewarding, and I appreciate being able to help our friends and family members and allow them to go on vacation without worrying about their goats!

I also already raise and support rare/heritage breeds. I am knowledgeable about them and chose my chicken breed accordingly. Now I am learning about goat breeds!"

Susan Davis, (sidavis, #3073) has received a certificate of achievement in Stitching and Crafting for earning an intermediate level Quilting badge.

"My Mom was cleaning out a closet when she found my Dad's shirts. I got the idea to use the shirts and make a memory quilt for Mom since Dad's been gone for 5 years (and we all still miss him terrible). I had to incorporate his everyday shirts, his dress blues, and police chief shirts along with his many patches. I used khaki fabric as the background to represent his time in the Navy, (his everyday khaki's) as that was a 20 year career for him. I used the Navy Badge for the center representing his main career, and the corners represent his time as Chief of Police of Tamerac, Florida.

I was pleased at how it all pulled together and made a nice lap robe for Mom. She cried when I presented it to her and won't let anyone use it. I guess she likes it."

Mari-lyn Lobinsky, (lucylobo511, #2571) has received a certificate of achievement in Garden Gate for earning a beginner level Gaining Ground badge.

"I started a compost pile in Sept 2010 in the corner of the backyard.

It turned out great, at first there was just a short fence around it. But, just this month, we built a box out of old pallets and it is wonderful. We even added the compost to the garden before planting this year."

Paula Black, (Sheepless in Seattle, #2953) has received a certificate of achievement in Stitching and Crafting for earning a beginner level Buttoned Up badge.

"Nearly all of my buttons have come from a garage sale years ago. I don't do a lot of garment sewing yet, so I haven't needed to go out and buy a lot of buttons. Some buttons have come from old garments, and I left a little bit of the garment attached so it would be easier to identify the buttons that definitely match. The buttons in the little plastic bags are the ones that come with garments I have purchased. I thought they would be easier to find if left in the bags.

I have my buttons organized by color for the most part. There is also one little section for special shaped buttons (stars, pumpkin, apples, dog). I figured these would be easier to find for a craft project this way. I also have a section for different closures that I have gleaned (toggles from old lunch boxes, clasps from old overalls, etc) and there's a little blue thimble in there too for good measure."

Emily Hack, (alterationsbyemily, #2951) has received a certificate of achievement in Farm Kitchen for earning an intermediate level Get It Together badge.

"I started by working on simple list of things I still wanted in my kitchen, that had either broken or I never owned. This list included a slotted spoon, quality spatulas, ladle, and another container to put my utensils in.

I went to my local discount store and found everything I needed. It was really nice to know I didnít pay full retail and I got exactly what I needed. I was able to give my extras to my next door neighbor as she is preparing to get married in a few months."

Emily Hack, (alterationsbyemily, #2951) has received a certificate of achievement in Garden Gate for earning an Expert level Backyard Farmer badge.

"A great local meat butcher in my area raises and butchers the beef ďin house". I found that it was raised organically and grass fed. I purchased several pounds in bulk paying the same price for the lesser grocery store brand. I also spent an afternoon with my dear friend and her goats as we took a few hours together and made some chevre cheese and mozzarella cheese.

Meatloaf is not the same in our house now. The taste that was from the new meat was great and my husband is very happy that I purchased in bulk. The mozzarella cheese was made into pizza and eaten fast. I tasted a bit of chevre the next day at my friendís home and we were both equally impressed by our achievement."

Ann Myers, (Ohioann, #3129) has received a certificate of achievement in Cleaning Up for earning a beginner level Shopping Green badge.

"I have 6 or 7 bags that we use for shopping. When the farmer's markets get going I use the bags and tell the vendor to keep their packaging on any item I can do that with.

The hardest part is remembering to get them back to the car so I have them on my next trip. I had extra bags so I have set up project bags with sewing and embroidery projects in separate bags so every thing I need is in one place. When my husband is driving I like to have a project to work on."

Sherry Buck, (sweettea59, #2215) has received a certificate of achievement in Stitching and Crafting for earning a beginner level Aprons badge.

"As part of a farmgirl apron swap, I made a half sunflower apron with blue ruffles. I used the sunflower material that I only had a small amount left of and rounded the corners. I also found a pocket pattern online to add to the apron.

I sent the apron out to my swap partner this week. I hope she likes it!"

Ruby Slider, (narjay, #1663) has received a certificate of achievement in Make It Easy for earning a beginner level Grease Chicks badge.

"Before I got my first car my dad made me learn to check all the fluids, and taught me how to replace them (including changing the oil.) I also learned to check tire pressure and change my own tires. Also, to keep a ledger in the glove compartment, and write down everything that has been done to the vehicle... and I mean everything! Every new belt, hose, battery, set of tires or quart of oil was written in this ledger along with the date and mileage of the vehicle.

This was very easy for me. This is something I do automatically with every vehicle I have ever owned. A well maintained vehicle will last as long as you take care of it."

Sherry Buck, (sweettea59, #2215) has received a certificate of achievement in Stitching and Crafting for earning an intermediate level Buttoned Up badge.

"I found my favorite vintage buttons out of my button collection, and got a bargain on a few new ones! :-) I used an existing bracelet chain and added the buttons by running the shank through the links on the chain. I also attached a few buttons with jump-rings through the button holes.

It turned out wonderful!! It is very jingly, but I'm looking forward to showing it off."

Ruby Slider, (narjay, #1663) has received a certificate of achievement in Make It Easy for earning an intermediate level Grease Chicks badge.

"Iíve been changing my own oil since I was a teenager. My dad taught me how to properly care for my cars. Changing the oil is not a difficult task, although it is messy. I even have my own filter wrench. I also have friends that own a garage in a nearby town, so we always take the used oil to them for disposal.

As a woman, maintaining your own vehicle gives you since of pride, somehow different from the cheese maker or bread baker or gardener pride. I donít know how to explain it. Just a happy independence!"